In automotive technology, conductors in ribbon form are mounted as part of a rear window defrosting grid, or to provide power to the rear window stop light, which is a widely used new device.
Typically, a woven conductive metal strip is mounted on the rear window by manual and conventional soldering of the strip to the window. Such a process is slow and time consuming, requiring relatively skilled labor to obtain reliable and good solder joints. Additionally, the process is not automatable, which would be greatly desired in any manufacturing process.
In accordance with this invention, an automatable process is provided for preparing an elongated conductor for soldering to a surface such as a glass window, for any desired use, but particularly in the transportation industry for automobiles, airplanes and the like. Specifically, the invention is useful in the preparation of parts for assembly into a rear window defrosting grid system.